The Smart and Final (S&F) weekly ad for the week of June 17-23 in 2015 has a co-promotion between Instacart and Smart and Final. Your first order at Instacart from S&F gets free shipping and also gets $5 off your order total when you use coupon code SMART at Instacart. There is no mention of an expiration date for the coupon, so I don’t know. You place the order through Instacart which unfortunately has an “asshole website”, it won’t let you see anything unless you login or create an account.
Archives for June 2015
June 16-22: 4 Bonus Starbucks Rewards Stars with select food items
Starbucks continues its charm offensive with bonus stars on Rewards Members. Check your emails to see if you qualify for this new offer, running between June 16-22 in 2015, and getting you 4 bonus stars if you purchase any lunch item or select breakfast sandwiches or the Reduced-Fat Cinnamon Swirl Coffee Cake. You don’t have to opt-in, and you can use the offer as many times as you like during this promotion. The stars will appear in your account within 24 hours of purchase.
Do pay attention to the bonus stars as the Starbucks system is not the most reliable when it comes to promotions, especially if you they more nuanced with items included and excluded like this offer. Still 4 bonus stars is a respectable amount (around $2 in reward redemption value).
99c MP3 Album: Royal Blood’s self-titled LP
For a limited time only, you can get the self-titled album by Royal Blood (10 tracks, August 2014 release) for just $0.99 total at Google Play. This is their weekly music deal. These typically end by Tuesday of the next week, so if my date-math is right, this should end by 6/16/15.
Refurbished HTC One M7 (unlocked GSM) for $150
With the latest wave of flagships coming out, more deals can be found in the previous-flagships, and even more so in the previous-previous flagships. Case in point, the HTC One M7 (unlocked GSM, formerly an AT&T phone, 32GB) is available for $150 with free shipping and no contract as manufacturer refurbished by ebay seller QualityCellz (99.2%). You have a choice of black or silver color scheme.
NOTE: the M7 does NOT have a microSD slot. HTC added a microSD slot to the M8.
Needless to say, this is a pretty good bang for the buck former-flagship phone! You can use it as a Wifi-only device (eg media player) or with any compatible GSM provider.
June 12-14 at Starbucks: 10 bonus stars with select packaged coffee/tea
If you are a Starbucks Rewards member, check your email to see if you are part of this promotion: between June 12-14 (2015), you can earn 10 bonus stars when you purchase any packaged coffee or two specific Teavana packaged teas (2oz Oprah Chai tins, either the Herbal Blend or the Chai). You don’t have to opt-in for this offer, it will happen automatically. You an use it up to ten times during this promotional period. You must pay with a Starbucks card or app linked to your eligible rewards account.
You earn a reward with 12 stars. With this promotion, you get ten bonus stars plus one regular star. So it’s essentially a reward. If you are planning to use the future to-be-earned reward on a more expensive food or drink ($6+) item, this may be a pretty good deal.
Note for tea fans: the two Oprah Chais that are eligible for this promotion are the most expensive ones. At their website, they go for $15 each. The $9 Teavana teas are NOT eligible for this promotion.
June 11-20 (after 12pm): 25% off Iced and Javiva drinks
With the temperatures going up, Peet’s Coffee stores are jumping in on the iced coupon game. Between June 11-20 in 2015, after 12pm local time, you can get 25% off iced beverages and Javiva blended drinks. Javiva is a new name for their Freddo drinks, think along the lines of Frappuccinos. You can print the coupon or show it on your mobile device or mention it to the cashier there. You can use it as many times as you like. The usual restrictions apply, you can use it at “real” Peet’s stores, not the ones in supermarkets or airports or other such locations.
Free for Lucky Rewards members: Lipton Sparkling Iced Tea
If you are a member of the Lucky’s Rewards program, check your emails or your rewards account or their app! There you may find an offer that gets you a FREE can of Lipton Sparkling Iced Tea. The choices are from the Lipton Sparkling Iced Tea Raspberry, Peach or Lemonade. You must add this offer to your Lucky’s rewards account before redeeming this in-store (and obviously use your rewards when you make the purchase). Offer ends through 6/16/15.
Also don’t forget that during June 2015, Lucky’s Rewards members can get a free Redbox movie rental per week. The promo code will print on your Lucky’s receipt, so you have to visit them at least once per week in order to get the codes for the free rental. The codes work on all Redbox machines, not just the ones available inside the Lucky Stores.
Caution: American Express Prepaid Card will start charging fees 10/15/15
If you have an American Express Prepaid Card (not to be confused with Gift Cards), starting October 15 in 2015 they will begin charging a $4.95 monthly fee (except for three states that probably have laws against it (New York, Arkansas, Texas)). You cannot avoid the monthly fee no matter what. The easiest way to deal with this is to use up your remaining balance before the new fees arrive. Screenshot of the relevant parts of the email below:
The reason they are doing this is likely because they recently launched a new prepaid option, the American Express Serve, which has more benefits than the Prepaid but it’s a different card and you have to apply for it separately.
If you have a card, you may have received an email from them outlining this transition. The email also mentions an offer that encourages customers to apply for the new Serve card: get a $25 account credit if you spend $25 or more with a new Serve account.
Surprise! The Discover Q3 (2015) 5% Rewards include Amazon.com
Surprise! For the 3rd quarter of 2015, the Discover 5% Cashback Bonus includes Amazon.com! Typically Amazon is included in the 4th quarter with the holiday shopping, so this is a nice bonus for frequent shoppers over there. Amazon is in addition to Department Stores and Home Improvement Stores eligible for the 5% bonus in the 3rd quarter (July 1 until September 30 in 2015).
You can activate this promotion right now to be ready. You will earn rewards on this promotion starting July 1st. Unlike Chase Ultimate Rewards that offer retroactive bonuses, this only works going forward, so it’s always a good idea to sign up as early as possible. The usual $1500 quarterly limit applies.
The fineprint has some more details on what qualifies (after the break)…
Plenti Rewards: Get 10% (or 20%) Points on $50 Google Play Gift Card
If you are part of the Plenti Rewards program and are looking for a Google Play Gift Card at a better price, head on over to Rite Aid this week (ends Saturday 6/13/15). If you buy a $50 Google Play Gift Card, you will earn 500 Plenti points (that’s at least $5 in redeemable rewards in the future). This is a limit two promotion. This alone is a 10% off discount. Unlike iTunes, Google Play gift cards are rarely discounted, so this on its own is great.
But wait, there’s more! One of the Plenti RiteAid offers gets you 500 bonus points if you make a purchase of $25 or more in a single transaction. This is a one time use promotion. I don’t recall if you have to manually activate it or it is an “automatic offer”, so check your Plenti account to be certain before buying it. This promotion only works once per account during this promotional period (ends by 10/4/15).
TIP: while visiting your local RiteAid store, they have some other good non-Plenti deals: a 4pk of Nature Valley oats bars for $1 (two packs of two), and the various items inside the RiteAid mini dollar store!
22pk Zhena Gypsy Coconut Chai Tea for $4
At Smart and Final brick and mortar stores, for a limited time, the Zhena Gypsy 22pk Coconut Chai tea canisters are on sale for $4 each. These are tea sachets, not good old tea bags. They have this flavor with Black tea and also with Green tea. This is a great price, it handily defeats the Amazon Subscribe & Save price. It even handily beats their 6-pack S&S price! These teas average 4.5 out of 5 based on 110+ customer reviews combined over there. Not to mention that you also get to keep their container!
Starbucks Rewards June 9-15 (2015): 4 Bonus Stars with Breakfast Sandwich
Starbucks is back with yet another promotion for their Rewards members. Between June 9-15 in 2015, you earn 4 bonus stars on any breakfast sandwich (including the Double–Smoked Bacon or the Cheddar & Egg Breakfast Sandwich). This promotion is mentioned in an email sent to Rewards members. These offers may be targeted, so check your emails or app inboxes to see if they are available for you. You can use this offer as many times as you like. The Bonus Stars will be added within 24 hours after a qualifying purchase is made. As usual you must pay with a registered Starbucks Gift Card or the official Starbucks app. The bonus stars are in addition to the regular one star per purchase.
Free Pilot in HD: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
If you like to try out new TV shows, and you hate seeing advertisements, the pilot episode of BBC America’s “Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrel” is currently (for a limited time) free to get in HD at Google Play and Amazon Instant Video. The pilot episode is titled “The Friends of English Magic” and is about one hour long.
Vinyl LP: Portishead’s Third for $13
It is not often that vinyl albums get priced in CD range, so if you are interested in the excellent “Third” album by Portishead, it is currently going for $13 in new condition at Amazon.com by Amazon actual. You also get the mp3 version of the album instantly when you place your order. Free 2-day shipping if you are a Prime member. Vinyl junkies where are you? 🙂
Nokia Lumia 635 (4G LTE) for $40 (Virgin, no contract)
UPDATE (6/4/15): this is now also going for $40 in new condition for Virgin Mobile at Amazon by Amazon actual with a limit of three per customer. There it averages a 4.3 out of 5 based on 142 customer reviews.
If you want to try out Windows Phone 8.1 without breaking the bank or getting hogtied in a contract, Virgin Mobile has a great deal for you, for a limited time they have the new condition Lumia 635 4G LTE phone on sale for $40! That’s new condition and no contract. You can use it with any of the eligible VM USA plans or use it as a Wifi-only device. Either way, you have no contractual commitments. It has very decent for $40, Snapdragon 400, 4.5-inch touchscreen, Gorilla Glass 3, 4G LTE (not the going away WiMax), 1GB RAM, 8GB on-board, microSD support up to a whooping 128GB, and such. If nothing else, you can fill up the microSD card with music, and audiobooks and podcasts and have it as a dedicated audio player.
NOTE: this is locked to Virgin Mobile and cannot be used with any other cellular carriers!
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